Antenna systems are used widely in aeronautical communications. It is desirable to provide a high antenna gain for maintaining a radio communications link with an aircraft or UAV when travelling in air.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,292,134 discloses a geodesic sphere phased array antenna system which is capable of scanning the entire omni-directional communication space and comprises a substantially equilateral triangular planar subarrays of antenna elements arranged in a geodesic sphere configuration. However, this communications space does not take into consideration static and dynamic terrestrial and satellite interference constraints.
US Patent Publication No. US 2009/186611 discloses an aircraft broadband wireless system and method which includes a plurality of spaced-apart ground stations for transmitting and receiving signals to and from a respective plurality of aircraft. The broadband wireless system may also include a network operations center in communication with each of the ground stations via a global communications network. However, similar to U.S. Pat. No. 6,292,134, this communication system is not adapted to modify its functionality in view of static and dynamic interference constraints.
It is an object to provide an improved antenna array system and method for use in aeronautical communications.